


To Be Gathered Round

by LadyLondonderry



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Established Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, M/M, Magic, Magical Creatures, Witches, talk of disabilities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:46:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25680790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyLondonderry/pseuds/LadyLondonderry
Summary: Liam Payne is the worst witch at Mossbridge Boarding Academy and he absolutely knows it.It’s not his fault that his potions always bubble over and his hat tends to disappear and more often than not his spells come out a little flat. He’s only a half-witch after all, he hasn’t grown up in the witchy community and his mum talks all the time about how it was a miracle that he was even able to get into the academy in the first place.He’s trying his best, he really is. And he wants to be a good witch, he truly does! It’s just that he started out behind, and he only got more behind, and the other witches decided early on that he would only hold them back, so here he is going into his fifth and final year, the only witch in his class who isn’t part of a coven.Mossbridge Boarding Academy for Young Witches is just not where Liam wants to be.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 55
Collections: Prompt 5.4: Board





	To Be Gathered Round

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of a Wordplay prompt challenge for the prompt "board". To read the amazing fics that were written by the others on this prompt, [click here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/board), and to see all fics written as part of the challenge (including years 1-3), [click here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/wordplay_fic_challenge/works). You can also find the masterpost for this year’s challenge [here](https://wordplayfics.tumblr.com/post/622306139518926848/wordplay-2020-every-week-for-five-weeks-a-prompt).
> 
> Thank you to [Mia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/we_are_the_same) for betaing my fic this week!

Liam Payne is the worst witch at Mossbridge Boarding Academy and he absolutely knows it. 

It’s not his  _ fault _ that his potions always bubble over and his hat tends to disappear and more often than not his spells come out a little flat. He’s only a half-witch after all, he hasn’t grown up in the witchy community and his mum talks all the time about how it was a miracle that he was even able to get into the academy in the first place. 

He’s trying his best, he really is. And he  _ wants _ to be a good witch, he truly does! It’s just that he started out behind, and he only got  _ more _ behind, and the other witches decided early on that he would only hold them back, so here he is going into his fifth and final year, the only witch in his class who isn’t part of a coven. 

Mossbridge Boarding Academy for Young Witches is just not where Liam wants to be. 

— 

On the first day of his final year at Mossbridge, Liam gathers with all the other witches to hear the headmistress speak. He’s already been docked points for having his hat on crooked (but in his defence, he felt someone tugging at it in the halls so it wasn’t  _ his _ fault), and he missed breakfast because he apparently forgot to pack his alarm, so he’s really rather hungry and a little moody and just looking forward to a nice afternoon nap during his free period if he’s being totally honest.

The headmistress, a stern older woman named Ms. Bruce, welcomes them back and leads them in the school tune (about the only thing that Liam is good at, if he’s honest). After she tells them all to be seated, she rattles on about good marks and representing the school well and all the other usual first day of term sorts of things. Liam tunes her out and starts going over the spells he was supposed to memorise over the summer, wondering just how many ways he’ll manage to muck them up in class.

He only tunes back in at the very end, just in time to hear Ms. Bruce say,

“Yes, and we were, of course, saddened to hear about the fire that raged in Tenebris Academy a few months ago, and while they rebuild we are going to be hosting a small number of witches at our own school. If you’re from Tenebris, please stand so that we may give you a warm Mossbridge welcome.”

Liam, who has very pointedly chosen a seat in the back corner of the auditorium, is startled to see the four boys directly in front of him stand. He can see one roll his eyes as the crowd claps (there’s a little confusion among the students before they seem to en masse decide that clapping is the “warm welcome” Ms. Bruce was referring to). 

They definitely look older than most of the students there, and Liam wonders what class they’re in. They probably all were shucked here together because they’d already formed a coven, so he can guess they’re at least fourth year. 

When Ms. Bruce releases them to head to their home rooms, Liam dawdles. He’s a little nosy and a lot interested in the four new students, and it’s not like he has many friends to catch up with after the end of summer.

(It’s not that Liam has  _ no _ friends! It’s just that he has more… acquaintances).

He stands and stretches and waits until the four file out in front of him before following.

“Not an especially impressive place, is it?” asks the one with straight fluffy brown hair.

“We do come from a school that prides itself on being gothic,” says the one with dark hair. “Somewhere with a name like Mossbridge you’d expect it to look a bit more… mossy?”

“Sounds like the kind of place my nan would go for tea,” says the one with curls. “Or like the bakery I worked at over the summer.”

“All you did was sweep the floors,” says the redhead. “You weren’t even getting paid, just did it for the croissants, does that really count?”

“Of course it does, we all benefited from those croissants!”

“Yeah, leave Haz alone!” That’s the first one again, his voice is a little higher pitched, a little cutting. “Plus, we hardly saw you all summer. Thought we were all going to get together for the solstice.”

The redhead groans. “I  _ told _ you my mam’s side of the family insisted on a trip to the coast because my cousin was born! It’s not my fault he happened to be the seventh son of a seventh son.”

Liam gets so caught up in listening to their conversation that he doesn’t even realise when they’ve stopped walking and runs right into the one in the back — with the dark hair.

“Sorry! I’m sorry,” he mumbles, backing up.

“It’s no problem,” the boy says, giving him a cool glance. “Just maybe don’t spend so much time listening to other people’s private conversations and you’ll pay more attention to where you’re going instead.”

Liam’s ears burn as his face heats up, and he pushes past the four of them (who are all staring at him now). Yep, this  _ would _ happen to him on the first day of classes. 

He hurries down the hallway and into fifth year incantations, taking a seat at the back only to get his things settled and look up to see all four boys traipsing in after him. 

Because of course they are.

They don’t sit particularly near him, all sequestered together in the opposite corner. No one else who comes in sits directly next to him either, probably remembering the hazards that come with sitting near the worst witch in the class. 

Liam spends most of the class stewing in embarrassment still, but he does learn their names — Louis (clearly the leader), Harry (the curly haired one, clearly dating the leader), Zayn (dark hair and intelligent eyes), and Niall (whose hair, by the end of class, is not red anymore but a deep cerulean). 

They’re interesting, and Liam really doesn’t want to get caught out listening in again, but the first day of class is always boring and he’d really rather hear a bit more about the new boys than about how grading works for the fifth year in a row.

Still, he doesn’t dare approach them after class. They’ve got their own coven going on, and Liam’s the awkward kid who’s already made a bad first impression. 

— 

The Tenebris Academy boys are actually in the majority of Liam’s classes, and Liam just keeps running into them. They’re in his potions class, and upper level chants (the only one he’s moderately good at), and about the only class he finds himself without them is charms (a class that’s really only useful if you’re going to be a street vendor or a traveling witch anyway). Each class Liam finds his seat near the back and ends up people-watching for most of the period. 

He loses a number of points this way, especially in Latin where he should have had all of the prefixes and suffixes for the first week memorised already, but whenever they got to his turn in the round he had no idea where on the sheet they were supposed to be. 

By the end of the day he’s more than ready to get back to his dorm and unpack the rest of his belongings without worrying about  _ looking  _ like he’s being as nosy as he clearly is. 

His dorm is tiny, because as far as he’s aware he’s the only fifth year student without a coven. That’s okay, he reasons to himself. He can get more work done this way. Concentrate better.

(He falls asleep almost as soon as he gets onto his bed, and does no homework whatsoever). 

— 

The first month of school passes slowly and uneventfully, with Liam managing to just squeak by in classes. His spells misfire and his potions burn. He gets a cramp in his hand during wand sessions. Maybe he should have just gone to the local human school this year. 

It’s not until halfway through October that anything really changes.

And it all happens because of a group project in incantations.

The groups are divided up by the three covens in class, as Mr. Lee apparently temporarily forgot that Liam was there (that’s fine). After mulling it over, Mr. Lee instructs him to go with the smallest coven in the class.

The four boys from Tenebris. 

Liam approaches them with caution after the assignment is given out, feeling bad that they’ve been stuck with him, and feeling nervous about having to interact with them.

He knows all their names well by now, even if they don’t know his. Zayn is the one who scoots his chair back, silently offering Liam an empty spot.

Liam pulls up his chair and sits awkwardly among them. They all look at him. He looks at them.

“Hello,” he says. “I’m Liam.”

“We know,” says Louis.

Niall smacks him with a notebook.

“Ow!”

“Don’t be rude,” chides Niall.

“Hello,” says Harry, holding out his hand. “I’m Harry.”

_ I know, _ Liam says on the inside.  _ I’ve seen you all. _

“I’m Niall,” says Niall. “That’s Zayn. This is Louis. Let’s just get all the weirdness out of the way before we work. Why aren’t you in a coven?”

Liam looks down, and almost misses Louis smacking Niall with  _ his _ notebook.

“You don’t have to answer that,” Louis says. “Because asking a question like that is  _ rude.” _

“No, it’s okay,” Liam says. “I just… Didn’t get one?” He gulps. “I’m the worst witch in the school, basically. And I don’t think anyone wants a liability like that in their coven.”

“Harry’s horrible at spells,” Louis points out.

“Sure am,” says Harry. “Transported myself to Geneva once while trying to summon rice pudding.”

“There. So you’re probably not  _ that _ much worse than Harry.”

“Uh,” says Liam. “Thanks?”

“No problem,” says Louis. 

“Happy to help,” says Harry.

“The answers to the top sheet are A, C, and F,” says Zayn, who’s already on page three.

— 

The group project lasts two weeks, and for two weeks Liam gets to experience what it’s like to have a coven.

They drag him everywhere. Louis, mostly. He’s suddenly expected to sit with them at meals, discussing the project but mostly discussing life. They invite him for a game of footie (Because Niall injured his knee and they needed a replacement). They cover for him when he forgets his textbook, and Niall at one point magicks up a frog when his brew doesn’t absorb the one he put in.

It’s nice in a way he never let himself dream about.

At the end of the two weeks, presenting their project to the class, Louis flashes him a thumbs-up even after Liam’s spell goes wonky and sets a small fire.

He’s so sad walking out of that class, but tries not to think about it. Maybe there’ll be another group project, since by this year all the covens should have been formed. Maybe they’ll include him again.

But then as he turns the corner, four boys start yelling at him, and he turns around to see Louis asking why he’s going  _ that _ way, and aren’t they all going to lunch together?

So he follows them, and hopes things keep going for a little while longer.

— 

How the four new boys so thoroughly take Liam under their wing is still a mystery even to Liam.

It’s as if one minute he was on his own just trying to make it through to the end of the year, and the next he had four people around, dragging him with them wherever they went. 

“I know you’re shit at potions, but Liam will you help me chop my frog legs?” Louis yells at him through the near-empty workroom as they prep for class in the morning.

“Ooh, mine too,” Harry says. He’s not even pretending to do work, just sitting in Louis’ seat as Louis stands in front of him working.

Liam’s chopped all of his frog legs already and has nothing better to do, so he does step over to Louis and takes the knife from him. It’s good to be needed.

“You’re both lazy,” Niall yells from his own station where he’s miles ahead of the rest of them. “Liam, don’t listen to them! They gotta do it themselves!”

“I can’t use iron, though,” Harry whines, falling forward to rest his chest against Louis’ back.

“No knives are made of iron,” Zayn says. “They’re all steel.” He’s sitting on the floor in front of his workstation, nothing even slightly prepped, as he carves designs into the floor with his own knife.

“Why can’t you work with iron?” Liam asks, dicing Louis’ frog legs into neat piles. 

“It’s because I’m a changeling,” Harry says. “Faerie blood. Iron makes my hands go all red and itchy.”

“Also he goes into anaphylactic shock,” Louis says. 

_ “What?” _ Liam asks, eyes wide.

“Only for a  _ minute,” _ Harry assuages. “I’ve got an epi pen, it’s fine.”

“It’s not fine,” Louis argues. “I’ve had to stab you  _ too many times.” _

Harry shrugs, smiling. “I’m still fine, though!”

“So you’re… not full witch?” Liam asks, wondering if that’s impolite to ask.

“Not technically,” Harry says. “My parents are witches but they’re my adopted parents. Being a changeling I do get, like, some of their abilities, though. Plus faerie abilities. It’s all very mysterious.”

“Faerie abilities like he can steal your name,” Louis says. “So be careful there.”

“Heeeey.” Harry pokes him. “I wouldn’t though. I’m  _ polite.” _

Liam overlooks that possibly horrifying comment. “I’m not full witch either,” he says. “Just on my mum’s side.”

“Yeah?” Louis asks, looking up with interest. “Is your dad human?”

“I mean we assume so,” Liam says. “He’s not around, so I can’t exactly ask, but as far as anyone knows he was.”

“Well that does sort of explain some things,” Niall says, then  _ “What?” _ when Louis shoots him a nasty glance.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Liam agrees. “I’ve got to get the bad-at-magic gene from somewhere.”

At least he’s good at chopping frog legs, though. He moves on to Harry’s cutting board after finishing with Louis’. Harry beams at him, and Liam smiles back. If he can’t be good at magic, he can at least be helpful with others’. 

— 

There’s a knock at Liam’s door way too early in the morning for a Sunday. 

Then there’s another knock.

Then there’s a barrage of knocks. 

The knocks, they do not stop.

Liam groans and rolls out of bed, walking over and throwing open the door without bothering to put on a shirt.

Four boys roll in looking very awake and alive.

“Liam!” Louis yells, bounding over and bouncing onto his bed (where he’s immediately joined by Harry). “We found your dad.”

“You… what?” Liam asks, shutting the door. His dorm room is small, barely big enough for his bed, dresser and desk. Now, having four friends in it, the room seems even smaller. Zayn sits at his desk while Niall (with platinum blond hair today) takes the floor. 

Liam… also takes the floor. After all, they’re the guests.

“You said you thought your dad was human,” Louis says. “But I wanted to know for sure, you know?”

Liam doesn’t even remember his father. “I guess,” he says. 

“So Harry looked up your birth certificate,” Louis says.

“You can do that?”

“You can if your dad works for the government,” Harry says. “You actually might be able to otherwise, I have no idea. I always just ask him.”

“That doesn’t feel legal,” Liam says.

“I’m pretty sure it’s not,” Niall agrees. “But we just let him go with it. He always does that.”

Harry pouts in Niall’s direction but Louis continues talking. “Anyway, so we looked him up and it turns out you’re not half-human at all,” he says.

He waits. For a reaction from Liam, probably.

“Huh,” says Liam.

Louis looks dissatisfied with that reaction.

“Liam, you’re not half-human, you’re half- _ druid.” _

Liam frowns. “Oh,” he says. He doesn’t know a lot about druids. There aren’t many in Wolverhampton.

“My great uncle’s a druid,” Zayn pipes up. “He’s pretty cool.”

“That’s cool,” says Liam. “So, I’m half-druid, I guess?”

“You don’t seem particularly excited,” says Harry.

“I mean,” hedges Liam. “I’m not? I guess I just don’t know why it matters, is all.”

“Liam, this is a disability,” Louis says, looking at him with something akin to shock. “That’s why this matters. It explains everything!”

“Oh,” says Liam, shrinking into his seat. Well that just makes sense, doesn’t it? Of course Liam’s disabled. He’s been terrible his whole life, after all. 

“No, I don’t think you know what I’m saying,” says Louis, his voice gravely serious. He puts a hand on Liam’s. “This is like— it’s like you’ve been trying to learn the same spells and potions and incantations as the rest of the class, but in a different language. Your body doesn’t work the same way most students do, and you’ve been punished for it instead of being given accommodations like you should have!”

The three others are also nodding at him, like this all makes total sense. “But they’ve always known I was only half witch,” Liam argues, confused. “Why would this make any difference when that didn’t?”

“They should’ve made accommodations for you there too, actually,” Niall says. His hair has turned a brilliant shade of green. “Half-witches who are half-human tend to find their powers harder to control, at least in the beginning, so you should’ve been given extra lessons.”

“Yeah,” adds Harry. “Being a changeling means I have faerie blood so I’ve been given specific spellbooks to learn from and I’m exempt from tests making any brews involving iron. That’s just common practice.”

“Well that makes sense for  _ you,” _ Liam argues. “Iron can hurt you!”

“Listen,” says Louis, standing up. “We’re all going to go to the library right now and find you a proper druid spellbook, and see if you can feel what we’re talking about. Yeah?”

“I guess,” says Liam. He’s sure it’s not going to make a difference, but everyone else is already following Louis’ lead, so Liam can’t imagine he’d be able to convince him otherwise.

— 

The most recent druid spellbook is from 1982, which doesn’t instill Liam with much confidence as Louis plops it on the table in the back corner of the library where they’ve gathered. It’s large and heavy and dusty and the artwork on the cover is all geometric shapes and bad eighties design. 

Niall and Zayn take their seats on the other side of the table and Louis perches himself on Harry’s legs as he opens the book and flips to a random page. “There, try that one,” he says, pointing to a spell that reads  _ Sparkler Lights _ . 

Liam leans over and skims it. “It says I need a staff,” he says. “Is that a druid thing? I don’t have a staff.”

“Ah shit, hold on,” Louis says, standing again (Harry pouts). He disappears among the shelves and comes back a few moments later with a meterstick. 

“Where did you even get that?” Liam asks as he takes it. 

“There’s always a bunch by the librarian’s desk,” Louis says with a shrug. “To borrow for projects and stuff.”

“Huh.” 

Liam feels ridiculous holding a measuring stick in his hand, but he supposes it’s not like the spell is going to work anyway. He bends over and reads the recipe, squinting at the out-of-date font choice and the words that he’s never seen used in any class spells. Is it even still Latin?

“Fine, but if I set this place on fire, one of you will have to put it out,” he says as he stands back. He taps the ground three times with the staff (measuring stick) and then tries his best to read the spell words off the page.

_ Immediately _ sparks start shooting off from the end of his stick. They light up the whole room, disappearing before they reach the floor and leaving no remains. Liam stares in shock, brandishing the stick in front of him like it’s on fire. 

That was… so easy?

Louis cheers, loud whoops that are sure to get the attention of the librarian soon. Niall claps and Zayn, well, he smiles. And that’s pretty great all on its own.

“See?” says Harry once the sparks have begun to die down. “That’s what it’s supposed to be like. Proper accommodation is fucking  _ important.” _

“Holy shit,” says Liam. 

He says this just as the librarian appears, shooing them out of the library and deducting points from Liam for cursing. 

He’s too happy to care, though.

— 

“What are you going to do?” asks Niall as they traipse across the grounds in the direction of the dorms. 

“Uh,” says Liam. “What do you mean?” He has the terrible eighties spellbook clutched in his hands like it’s more precious than gold.

“I mean, are you going to go to the headmistress? Demand justice? Go over her head and report the whole place to the authorities for not giving you the help you need?” His hair is a blazing shade of red.

“Oh,” says Liam. “Um. No?”

“You have to go to  _ somebody,” _ Louis argues. “You need justice!”

“I think I just… want to be able to graduate,” Liam says, and he feels ridiculous for saying it, because he probably should be demanding something or other or whatever. But he’s spent so long being known as the worst witch on campus, that any chance to slip under the radar and make it through to the end of school is a lot more appealing. Sure, he’s got friends now, but he’d still rather just get out of here as quickly as possible. Leave school behind and think about the future. 

“What if someone else comes, though?” Zayn asks. “Someone else who’s half druid? Don’t you want to be able to make sure that they don’t have to go through what you did?”

Liam frowns. He hugs the textbook tightly to his chest and he frowns a whole lot. “I guess,” he says. He  _ does _ care about someone else, but also… should that even be his responsibility? After all, no one cared about  _ him. _

No, but that’s not true, is it? The four boys walking through the muddy grass with him, they cared. 

And they made life feel different. 

“I’ll do… something,” he concedes. “I’ll talk to someone.”

_ “I’ll _ talk to someone,” Louis declares.  _ “I’m _ the head of this coven, so that’s  _ my _ responsibility.”

“Uh,” says Liam. 

He stops walking.

Everyone else stops with him.

“Sorry,” he says. “This coven?”

“Yeah,” agrees Louis, like this is nothing out of the ordinary. “This coven.”

“You mean like, the four of you, right?”

Louis looks hurt.

(Harry looks  _ more _ hurt).

“I mean the five of us,” Louis says, frowning very intently at Liam. “You needed a home,” he says. “I thought it was assumed your home was with us, now.”

“Oh,” squeaks Liam. “I did not assume that.”

“Do you not  _ want _ that?” Harry asks, looking teary.

“No, I— I do!” Liam puts up his hands and then drops the book and fumbles to pick it back up. “I just— I didn’t think that was an option. You four are already—”

“Covens grow,” says Louis. 

“My parents’ coven is almost twenty people,” Niall points out. 

“My family’s is over fifty,” Zayn says.

“Show off,” says Harry.

“So we’re all agreed, right?” asks Louis, but he looks directly at Liam. “I thought this was assumed, but apparently not. You  _ do _ want to be part of us, don’t you?”

Liam nods, immediately, desperately. “Yes please,” he says. The spellbook in his arms has mud on it now, and there’s likely mud on his uniform. He feels like he might cry.

“Good,” says Louis. “So  _ we _ are going to take this case to the headmistress and get you proper accommodations like you should have gotten years ago, and  _ then _ we are going to find somewhere off-campus to eat pizza.”

“Your solution to everything ends with getting pizza,” Zayn complains.

“You got your celebration curry last week when you passed that final, this is Liam celebration pizza,” Louis says. 

Harry nods along seriously with Louis. 

“I like Liam celebration pizza,” Liam says quietly. 

Everybody hears him, though.

And that’s not a bad thing.

— 

On May 26th, when the five of them graduate, Liam walks across the stage with his staff in hand. It’s from the woods just off campus; Niall was the one to find it, and Zayn immediately took it and carefully carved in all five of their names. 

Using it makes Liam feel like he’s been given the gift of sight for the first time. Everything is easy, now. Everything is  _ possible. _

They stand on stage together, applauded by parents and relatives as they hold hands to represent the bond of their coven preparing them for the future. Liam’s lived in their cramped dorm room for two months, no longer alone and lonely in his own single room. It’s been chaotic and better than he could have ever imagined. 

Tomorrow the five of them will go their separate ways and reunite with family members, but just long enough to pack up their things so that they can travel to Harry’s dad’s bungalow and plan their next steps, find a flat somewhere in the city for the five of them. 

The world is at their fingertips, and Liam isn’t the worst witch anymore. 


End file.
